Casing for twisting spindles

ABSTRACT

VERTICAL SIDE PLATES ARE ARRANGED BETWEEN ADJACENT PAIRS OF TWISTING SPINDLES TO SEPARATE THEM, AND EXTENDING ACROSS THE FRONT OF EACH SPINDLE BETWEEN SIDE PLATES IS A DOOR THAT IS CYLINDRICALLY CURVED, AND ALSO CONICALLY TAPERED AT THE BOTTOM, TO FOLLOW THE CONTOUR OF THE THREAD BALLOON. THE DOOR IS HINGED AT ONE EDGE FOR HORIZONTAL SWINGING MOVEMENT, AND AN ARM ON THE PIVOT SHAFT IS CONNECTED TO ONE END OF A BOWED SPRING THAT PASSES OVER-CENTER TO EXERT A FORCE TENDING TO HOLD THE DOOR EITHER OPEN OR CLOSED. ANOTHER ARM ON THE PIVOT SHAFT IS CONNECTED BY   LINKAGE TO A BRAKE-ACTUATING ARM THAT BRAKES THE SPINDLE WHEN THE DOOR IS OPENED.

Sept. 21,1971

Filed April 28. 1969 H. P. WELLER ETAL CASING FOR TWISTING SPINDLES 2Sheets-Shoat 1 O! 1 Q h INVENTORS JOSEF MEHL H. P. WELLER ETA!-3,505,751

CASING FOR TWISTING SPINDLES Sept. 21,1971

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April" 28. 1969 fifwe/cl-l PETER h/L'LLEB JOJEFMEHL United States Patent 01 fice Patented Sept. 21, 1971 3,606,751CASING FOR TWISTING SPINDLES Heinrich Peter Weller, 63 Beethovenstrasse,405 Monchen-Gladbach, Germany, and Josef Mehl, 18 Schillerstrasse, 5144Wegberg, Germany Filed Apr. 28, 1969, Ser. No. 819,711 Claims priority,application Germany, Apr. 26, 1968, P 17 60 270.9 Int. Cl. D01h 1/24,J/42, 7/18 US. Cl. 57-88 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Verticalside plates are arranged between adjacent pairs of twisting spindles toseparate them, and extending across the front of each spindle betweenside plates is a door that is cylindrically curved, and also conicallytapered at the bottom, to follow the contour of the thread balloon. Thedoor is hinged at one edge for horizontal swinging movement, and an armon the pivot shaft is connected to one end of a. bowed spring thatpasses over-center to exert a force tending to hold the door either openor closed. Another arm on the pivot shaft is connected by linkage to abrake-actuating arm that brakes the spindle when the door is opened.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a casing,or enclosure, particularly designed for use with a plurality of twistingspindles arranged side by side on a spindle rail to form a part of atwisting machine.

As is well-known in the art, there is considerable air movement createdaround double-cord twisting spindles, due to the high rotationalvelocity of the so-called thread balloons revolving around the spindles.Where there is a plurality of spindles arranged side by side on aspindle rail, the draft thus created by each thread balloon has anadverse, interfering effect on the thread balloons of the adjacentspindles. To eliminate this mutually adverse effect of each spindle withrespect to the others, it has heretofore been the practice to provideside plates between adjacent pairs of spindles, and these side platesdeflect the draft partly to the front, i.e., the operating side, andpartly to the rear of the spindle rail. However, this arrangement hasone very serious disadvantage, in that the draft on the operating sideis barely tolerable by the operating personnel, who are exposed to it.

It has been proposed to eliminate this disadvantage by enclosing eachspindle in a ring-shaped casing having the form of a longitudinallyslotted cylinder. The oblong slot is provided for the operation of thespindle. Apart from the fact that the operation of the spindle becomescumbersome when enclosed within a cylindrical casing, one objectionablefeature of this arrangement is that an intermittent stress is exerted bythe thread balloon on the oblong slot, since the ring-shaped casing alsoserves in this embodiment as a balloon limiter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of the invention, therefore,is to provide a new and improved enclosure for a double-cord twistingspindle, which provides complete protection from the draft created bythe thread balloons for personnel on the operating side of the spindlerail, while at the same time the air currents produced during operationof the machine are confined and conducted away to the rear of thespindle rail, where it is harmlessly dissipated. This object is achievedby providing a door on the front side (i.e., the operating side) of eachtwisting spindle, which is preferably curved cylindrically in thedirection of rotation of the spindle and conically tapered in its lowerpart to ensure a smooth flow of air. In this way, a suction effect iscreated during rotation of the spindles, so that the resulting draft isled upward to the rear.

Another object of the invention is to provide an enclosure of the classdescribed, in which the door is operatively connected to a brakemechanism, so that the respective twisting spindle is braked when thedoor is opened.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of a spring holdingmechanism connected to the door which operates automatically, when thedoor is opened, to hold it open, and which also operates when the dooris closed, to press it firmly against a stop. In the preferredembodiment of the invention, the said spring holding mechanism takes theform of a leaf spring which is fixedly mounted at one end, and the otherend of which is connected to the pivot shaft of the door at a distanceradially outward from its axis of rotation such that as the door swingsfrom open to closed position, or vice versa, the spring is compresseduntil its free end passes over-center with respect to the other end ofthe spring and the axis of said pivot shaft, at which point the springexerts a pressure on the door tending to hold it in the new position.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiment thereof, taken with thedrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view, showingseveral twisting spindles mounted on a spindle rail and embodying thecasing of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Mounted side by side on aspindle rail 1 are several twisting spindles 2, each of which is drivenby a belt drive 3. Likewise arranged on the spindle rail are holders 4,which support fiat separating plates 5 extending vertically between theindividual spindles 3. Rotatably mounted in each of the holders 4 is apivot shaft 7, to which a door 6 is attached. The door 6 has its upperportion cylindri-cally curved so as to generally follow the contour ofthe respective twisting spindle, and its lower portion is conicallytapered, as shown.

Projecting radially from the lower portion of the pivot shaft 7 is alever 8, which is connected by a linkage 9 and resilient arm 10 to aspindle brake actuating lever 11. The lever 11 actuates an expandingbrake of the type shown and described in our co-pending application Ser.No. 813,894, filed Apr. 7, 1969, now abandoned, to which reference maybe had.

Another lever arm 16 is fixed to the pivot shaft 7, and its outer end isconnected by a bolt 12 to one end of a bowed leaf spring 13. The outerend of the leaf spring 13 is connected by a bolt 14 to a stationarysupport on the spindle rail 1, and bolt 14 is so positioned that thestress of spring 13 acts against lever arm 16, when the door is closedto the operating position I, to apply a torque to the pivot shaft 7 inthe direction causing the door 6 to be pressed firmly against a fixedstop 15 on the next adjacent holder 4. However, as the door is swung outto the open position II, bolt 12 passes over-center with respect to thebolt 14 and axis of the pivot shaft 7, causing an opposite torque to beapplied to the shaft, thereby urging the door toward the fully openedposition. Thus, the door is swung automatically to the open position andremains there until manually closed, once the bolt 14 has passed theaforesaid over-center position.

When the door 6 is opened, lever 8 is simultaneously swung in theclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 2,

pulling the linkage 9 with it and thereby pulling the arm 10 and lever11. This actuates the spindle brake, so that the spindle 2 is stoppedwhen the door is opened. The braking force can be regulated by adjustingthe angular position of lever 8 on arm 7, which adjustment can beeffected in any conventional way.

What is claimed is:

1. In a textile machine having a plurality of twisting spindles (2)arranged side by side on a spindle rail (1), said spindles beingseparated from one another by vertical separating plates (5) arranged oneach side thereof, the improvement comprising a casing for confining theair draft created by the thread balloon revolving around each of thespindles, said casing consisting of a door (6) extending across thefront side of each spindle from one of said separating plates to theother, said door being hinged on one side edge for horizontal swingingmovement between open and closed positions, a spring holding mechanism(12, 13, 14, 16) connected to said door and operable to press the latteragainst a fixed stop (15) when the door is closed, said spring holdingmechanism also exerting a spring pressure against the door in thedirection to hold it open when the door has been opened beyond apredetermined point.

2. A casing for twisting spindles according to claim 1, furthercomprising a brake actuating lever operatively connected to said doorfor stopping the respective twisting spindle when the door is opened.

3. A casing for twisting spindles according to claim 1, wherein saidspring holding mechanism (12, 13, 14, 15) includes a spring (13), oneend of which is connected to a stationary point (14) on said spindlerail (1) and the other end of which is connected to a movable point (12)on a member (16) connected to said door (6) for pivotal movementtherewith, said movable point (12) 4 being spaced radially from thepivot axis of said member and being positioned so that when said door isclosed, said spring exerts a torque on the door tending to hold itclosed.

4. A casing for twisting spindles according to claim 1, wherein saidspring holding mechanism (12, 13, 14, 16) includes a bowed leaf spring(13), one end of which is connected to a stationary point (14) on saidspindle rail (1) and the other end of which is connected to a movablepoint (12 on a member (16) connected to said door (6) for pivotalmovement therewith, said movable point (12) being spaced radially fromthe pivot axis of said member and being positioned so that when saiddoor is open or closed, said leaf spring exerts a torque on the doortending to hold it open or closed, respectively, said movable point (12)passing over-center with respect to said stationary point (14) and thepivot axis of said member (16) when said door is moved from said open toclosed position, or vice versa.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,611,166 12/1926 Daniloff57-108X 3,431,719 3/1969 Bell 57-108 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,137,277 1/1957France 57-5833 1,306,955 9/1962 France 57108 958,189 5/1964 GreatBritain 57108 1,013,067 12/1965 Great Britain 57108 JOHN PETRAKES,Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 5758.83, 108

